Another day, another officiating debut!
Referee Riley Brace will be making his National Hockey League debut in stripes on Saturday, working Montreal Canadiens vs. Ottawa Senators.
Brace (#49) will referee tonight’s game with ref Ghislain Hebert (#22), with Julien Fournier (#56) and David Brisebois (#96) on the lines. NHL Officiating Manager Al Kimmel will supervise the game.
The Fitzroy Harbour native was hired prior to the start of the season. He made the jump to officiating after wrapping up a professional career than included time with the American Hockey League’s Worcester Sharks, Iowa Wild, and Chicago Wolves, where he compiled five goals, 14 assists, and 59 penalty minutes over 74 AHL games.
Brace, 32, also played in the ECHL, scoring 48 goals and 95 assists across three seasons while playing for the San Francisco Bulls, Ontario Reign, and Wheeling Nailers – scoring a Game 7 overtime goal that sent his team to the Kelly Cup Final.
He attended the Montreal Canadiens’ training camp in 2014, but didn’t make the club. In 2016, he the crossed the pond, playing six seasons in Europe.
As a player, he was teammates with current NHLers Ivan Barbashev (VGK), Jordan Binnington (STL), Pheonix Copley (LAK), Dylan DeMelo (WPG), Casey DeSmith (VAN), Joel Edmundson (TOR), Barclay Goodrow (NYR), Yanni Gourde (SEA), Erik Haula (NJD), Tomas Hertl (VGK), Darcy Kuemper (WSH), Chris Tierney (NJD), and Jason Zucker (NSH).
Brace attended the NHL’s Officiating Exposure Combine in 2022 and was assigned to work in the ECHL and AHL, where officiated his first professional game. Brace was also tapped to work the NHL’s Traverse City Prospect Tournament.
From the NHLOA:
Brace, a native of the Ottawa valley, is a former professional hockey player. The former player started with Mississauga St.Michaels Majors in the OHL where he became the franchise leader in games played and points.
After the OHL he turned pro and played with the Worcester Sharks, Iowa Wild, Chicago Wolves and the Wheeling Nailers. He then decided to head over to Europe to play the next 6 years in some breathtaking countries such as Cortina Italy, Bolzano Italy, Winterthur Switzerland, and finally spending his last season in Stjernen Norway.
It was during his last season in Norway when Riley decided to apply for the 2022 NHL Exposure Combine, which looks to develop officials and promote the transition of former players into officials.
His performance at the combine earned him an invite to work the Traverse City Prospects Tournament and to spend the 2022-23 season working the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL).
In the summer of 2023 he was invited to attend the Exposure Combine for a 2nd year in a row where he was signed to a NHL minor league contract.
Brace is the third referee to make his National Hockey League debut in the past week. Referee Graedy Hamilton took the ice for the first time in the NHL at Coyotes vs. Sharks, followed by Stephen Hiff at Sharks vs. Kraken. That leaves Michael Sullivan as the lone new hire still awaiting his first NHL start.
Congratulations to Riley Brace on his first NHL game, and all the best in his career in stripes!
